COUNTING THE ELECTORAL VOTES. 



SPEECH 



HON. JOHN H, BURLEIGH, 

OF MAINE, 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



January 25, 1877. 




W^A-SHINGTON. 

1877. 



S;^ SPEECH 

HON. JOHN H. BURLEIGH 



On the bill (S. No. ll.'iU) to provide forand roKulatc the countiris of vot«H forTresi- 
dent aud Vice I'rosiilout, and the decision of questiouu ariHing thereon, for the 
term commencinj; ^larch 4, A. D. 1877. 

Mr. BUKLEIGII. Mr. Speaker, as the time allotted to each member 
of this House to speak on this most iiiiporliiiit <iiK'sti<iii is very short, 
I must state my reason for the vote 1 shall give in as brief a manner 
as I can. Since I can remember, my idea of the countLng of the 
electoral vote has been tliat, according,' to the Constitution, this high 
honor was vested in the President of the Senate. 

But, sir, since the grave (piestion of the day and how to decide it 
has arisen, I lind in looking over the history of our country that the 
greatest of the uumi wo have had, without distinction of party, liave 
taken ditl'erent views in regard to counting and deciding electoral 
voles that are questionable. 

There is another impression that has always been tixed on my mind, 
and tliat is that the framers of the Constitution never intentled that 
Congress should Inive the power by throwing out the vote of a State, 
or otherwise to annul the action of the several States in the choice 
of a President. On the contrary, tlie Constitution provides that a 
member of Ct)ngress, or holder of any office under the Government, 
shall not be an elector-. 

It only provides that the House of Representatives, voting by States, 
may elect a President when the States by votes of electors fail in so 
doing. 

The Constitution was made before the days of telegrams. It di- 
rects that the result of presidential elections shall be arrived at and 
forwarded to the Vice-President, under clo.se seal, in the quickest 
possible time for those days, as has been so well shown and expressed 
by my friend from Ohio, [Mr. G.\kkield.] Then the voters of 
Massachusetts could not know how those of Georgia had vote<l, or 
those of Georgia how those of Massachusetts had voted, until the 
votes of each had been counted and registered by tlu^ authorities of 
these States. Then the result of the election in the States far re- 
moved from each other anil from the capital couhl not be known gen- 
erally until but a short time before they were to be oi)ened by the 
President of the Senate. But now on the morning after the election 
the click of the wires informs tlie voters of all the States of the ap- 
proximate result, or so near that a clo.se calculation can at once be 
made of what votes are wanted to decide the election in fav(U- of one 
candidate or the other. So that the oh.ject of the framers of the Con- 
stitution in having the cpiickcst po.s.sible returns that neither party 
could take advantage of the knowledge of how the State had voted 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 




013 789 582 



and be incited to nsc extraordinary cftbrts to secure the election of 
their candidate is lost. The Constitution should be changed to meet 
the advance of the times. 

Men and money, it is said, after the late election were sent into the 
States that might be inllnenced in making iip the counts by both 
parties to see that there was a fair count and that their respective 
party should secure the vote or votes necessary to secure the election 
of their candidate. The result is each party charges the other with 
fraud, each claims that their candidate is elected. The country 
urgently looks to Congress to settle the question of who is elected 
President, and to settle it fairly, while the constituents of every mem- 
ber, in every city and town, are divided in their views or wishes in 
regard to its adjustment. We search the records of the country since 
it was formed for information. We find no precedent, no parallel 
antecedent, and that every question that has arisen in former Con- 
gresses that the settlement of would aid us now has been passed over, 
and that the views of eminent men as expressed in the records of 
how disputed votes shall be counted and the action of former Con- 
gresses on the subject tend more to mistify and entangle than to guide 
and clear. 

Men that voted for Governor Hayes declare that he is elected, and 
men that voted for Governor Tilden declare that he is elected. The 
best men in the country, in Congress and out, are divided in opinion in 
regard to the meaning of the Constitution, as to how and by whom the 
votes of disputed States shall be settled; the guides that might gov- 
ern not settled, but contradicting each other, each side positive and 
earnest in the belief that their candidate is elected, some saying, on 
both sides, "No compromise, hold on, we have got them." Is this 
the language of statesmen, when the peace of their country is perhaps 
at stake ? 

air. Speaker, while I believe sincerely in the honesty of the party 
to which I belong, in its belief that Governor Hayes is elected legally, 
I accord to the democratic party an equally sincere, honest belief that 
Governor Tilden is elected by the people who voted in the several 
States. Under these circumstances what shall be done ? What shall 
we do? 

Sir, seeing no way of settling the great question of who shall be 
President of the United States nuder the present condition of things by 
Congress, under the Constitution or by precedent, I shall cheerfuly vote 
for the bill now under discussion, with the feeling that by so doing 
I shall be acting for the best interest of my country. I believe that 
in settling this great question by this commission, without a jar to our 
institutions, the great Republic will rise to a greater prominence: 
our people and those of rhe Old World will have greater respect and 
confidence in our republican form of government. 

Hereafter, when the question we have before us is bridged over and 
Congress again gets to work, every lover of our country will hope 
that it will act on this subject and have it settled in such a maimer 
as will last for all time. 



